


Five, Six, Pick up Sticks

by Zany_Frog



Series: Counting Songs [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 15:16:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18166847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zany_Frog/pseuds/Zany_Frog
Summary: Five was the rebel, the lost cause.Six was the guide, the glass cannon.A little character study on Five and Ben.





	Five, Six, Pick up Sticks

Five was strong and smart. Father would have made him the leader if he had been loyal like One. Instead, Five was rebellious and questioned Father at every turn.

Five tried to act like everything and nothing bothered him at the same time. The others knew different. They knew he had a heart, they knew he put up a mask because otherwise he would have to face the horrors that their Father inflicted head on. They knew he cared in the way he would seem to anticipate their needs and have them there before they could blink.

Still, even with the bad behaviour in Father’s eyes, he was highly praised and largely untouchable. If Father raised a hand to him, it never hit. If he somehow got hurt, he was somehow also unfazed. He defied where none of the others could, not even the unapologetic Four could push the way Five did. Three barely heard rumors about him.

None of them were surprised that Five left the way he did, all dramatic and opposing. He refused to listen, refused to stand down even if the odds weren’t in his favor. The last breath he took would be one fought for in defiance.

All of the siblings thought that when Five had left in a flurry of motion, Father would get worse. They had also thought that they would see Five again in the near future, but they were wrong on both accounts. Father withdrew with a cold look in his eyes, and Five didn’t come back for a long, long time.

Five was the rebel, the lost cause.

...

Six was among the strong, but he refused to use his power unless heavily persuaded. Father obviously disapproved, but Six stood his ground for a long while before he broke down and began training.

Six was also the most emotionally stable and morally just out of all of them, which was saying something when his power was to control the beast inside of him. People never questioned the blood on Six’s clothes, simply passed by what they deemed the weirdest of the freaks.

All of the siblings went to Six once or twice so he could help them work through some of the things Father had them do, because he understood and empathized. He knew when to offer advice and when to simply listen. Knew when to back down and when to push with all he had.

With how easily he understood emotion, it was even easier to get hurt with something as simple as words. The siblings, especially Five, all took good words in and pushed away the bad ones in the hopes of having it hurt less if they didn’t acknowledge it. Six took every single word to the heart like a physical wound.

No one was surprised when Six died. They all knew that life was short, and theirs were shorter. With the missions they were given, they had a higher chance of failing than winning. So Six died, they grieved, then life went on.

Four mentioned his ghost, but he was shut down. It was easier to believe he was missing in action than dead. It hurt less, and caused less distraction when the others thought too hard about where Six had gone during a job.

Six was the guide, the glass cannon.


End file.
